American expat Kate Moore drops her kids at the international school, makes her shopping rounds, and meets her husband Dexter at their regular café: a leisurely start to a normal day, St-Germain-des-Prés.
Across the Seine, tech CEO Hunter Forsyth stands on his balcony, perplexed that his police escort just departed, and frustrated that his cell service has cut out; Hunter has important calls to make, not all of them technically legal.
And on the nearby rue de Rivoli, Mahmoud Khalid climbs out of an electrician’s van, and elbows his way into the crowded courtyard of the world’s largest museum, in the epicenter of Western civilization. He sets down his metal briefcase, and removes his windbreaker.
That’s when everyone starts to scream.
People have big plans for the day. Dexter is going to make a small fortune, finally digging himself out of a deep financial hole, via an extremely risky investment. Hunter is going to make a huge fortune, with a major corporate acquisition that will send his company’s stock soaring. Kate’s plans are more modest: preparations for tonight’s dinner party—one of those homemaker obligations she still hasn’t embraced, even after a half-decade of this life—and an uneventful workday at the Paris Substation, the clandestine cadre of operatives that she has been running, not entirely successfully, increasingly convinced that every day could be the last of her career. But every day is also a fresh chance to prove her own relevance, and never more so than during today’s momentous events.
And Mahmoud? He is planning to die today. And he won’t be the only one.
Praise for THE PARIS DIVERSION
“Pavone’s deliciously twisty thriller . . . has been skillfully engineered for maximum reader enjoyment.”
—THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“Thriller writing at its absolute best. With echoes of Graham Greene and John le Carré, Pavone’s novel accomplishes that rare feat of being both a nonstop adventure ride and a smart, stylish, and compelling meditation on family, courage, responsibilities, and the relationships we create, for good and bad, throughout our lives. The Paris Diversion does far more than divert; it grips us from the very beginning and doesn’t let go.”
—JEFFERY DEAVER
“Chris Pavone has built a loyal following by writing thrillers that sneak in a whole lot more than just spycraft . . . Diversion is Pavone’s specialty, which he employs here with panache, clockwork precision, and a great command of Paris locales.”
—THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Chris Pavone’s The Paris Diversion is the best espionage novel I’ve read this year. Smart, sophisticated, and suspenseful, this is Pavone’s finest novel to date—and that’s saying something.”
—HARLEN COBEN
“I nominate Kate Moore, the protagonist of Chris Pavone’s sizzling new thriller The Paris Diversion, for patron saint of working wives and mothers everywhere.”
—MARILYN STASIO, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
“Sleek, cunning, and breakneck, Chris Pavone’s The Paris Diversion sweeps you into its frenetic rhythms from its first pages. With a sprawling cast of characters, with its scissoring plot twists, and especially with Kate—as rich and complicated a hero as you could hope for—it keeps you returning for more and more. A knockout.”
—MEGAN ABBOT
“This thrill ride of a novel is as heart-pounding as its predecessor, The Expats.”
—GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
“Since he exploded onto the scene with The Expats, Chris Pavone has quickly become one of the elite must-read can’t-miss thriller writers working today. Grab The Paris Diversion and hold on for the ride.”
—C.J. BOX
“A fast-paced and heartfelt thriller set in the world of espionage and terrorism that echoes the best of John le Carré.”
—ASSOCIATED PRESS
“I tore through The Paris Diversion, completely caught up in the thrilling story of one remarkable day in Paris. With its twisting, high-stakes plot, all-too-human characters, and unrelenting tension, I couldn’t read it fast enough! I absolutely loved it—highly recommended.”
—SHARI LAPENA
“Chris Pavone is a master craftsman. A natural storyteller. Whether we’re being driven around Paris in a car trunk or walking through the Luxembourg Gardens, his descriptions leap off the page. The Paris Diversion is a terrific read.”
—JASON MATTHEWS
“As full of fast-paced twists and turns as a great car chase, you will race through Chris Pavone’s new book. This is a thrilling story of international intrigue set in my favorite city in the world—Paris. I loved it!!”
—INA GARTEN
“My head is still swimming after reading The Paris Diversion. Chris Pavone has constructed the perfect page-turner for our fraught times, a white-knuckle ride of international proportions where nothing is ever what it seems.”
—OLEN STEINHAUER
“I got a sneak preview of Chris Pavone’s next book The Paris Diversion, a 100 mph thriller that all takes place within 12 hours. Unfortunately you’ll have to wait until next year . . .”
—KEN FOLLET (@KMFollett), on Twitter
“The Paris Diversion coils up with tension from the first page and propels the reader through a maze of intrigue and suspense. Fans of espionage thrillers will find nothing is what it seems in Chris Pavone’s stealty storytelling.”
—MATTHEW PEARL
“An ingenious, engrossing sequel to an ingenious, engrossing original. If only all follow-ups were this good.”
—JOHN CONNOLY
“Pavone’s books are always pacy, funny, intense, and full of surprises, and that’s a rare combination. I heartily recommend The Paris Diversion.”
—SIMON KERNICK
“Another superior Pavone entertainment . . . a smart, light as air thriller that’s impossible to put down.”
—NEW ZEALAND HERALD
“The most fascinating, believably human fictional spy to appear since George Smiley shuffled his bedraggled self onto the stage nearly 60 years ago.”
—BOOKLIST
“One of the genre’s most consistently dazzling architects . . . Pavone gives us a fresh, pulsating, and introspective thriller that delivers on its tourist-heavy Parisian setting and expands and connects territory from his previous novels . . . Sure to please fans of Daniel Silva or Stella Rimington. Absolutely not to be missed.”
—LIBRARY JOURNAL
“[A] fast-paced thriller . . . shelve alongside le Carré, Forsyth, and other masters of foreign intrigue.”
—KIRKUS REVIEW